Henry Craik, ed. English Prose. 1916.Vol. II. Sixteenth Century to the Restoration

On Christs Christianity

By Ralph Cudworth (16171688)

From Sermon on They Know Christ, who keep His Commandments

IT came into the world, not to fill our heads with mere speculations; to kindle a fire of wrangling and conscientious dispute, among us; and to warm our spirits against one another, with angry and peevish debates: whilst in the meantime, our hearts remain all ice within towards God, and have not the least spark of true heavenly fire, to melt and thaw them. Christ came not to possess our brains with some cold opinions, that need draw a freezing and benumbing influence upon our hearts. Christ was a Master of Life, not of the schools: and he is the best Christian whose heart beats with the purest pulse towards heaven; not he whose head spins out the finest cobwebs.